


Dreamless

by ObscureReference



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Blood, Communication, Curses, Dark Magic, Established Relationship, Implied/Referenced Animal Death, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Self-Harm, Sleep, Sleep Deprivation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-06
Updated: 2019-02-06
Packaged: 2019-10-22 20:55:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17669918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ObscureReference/pseuds/ObscureReference
Summary: Before Leo could protest again, he said, “I think I have something I want to try, but I don’t—I’m not really sure how well it’s going to work.”He didn’t sayIt’s really risky.He didn’t sayIf you help me it’ll be easier, but I’m so scared it’ll go wrong that I don’t want to ask you. I don’t want you to get hurt. I don’t want you to seemehurt. I want Niles to wake up and say it’s all going to be alright, but he won't wake up and soon we won’t either.Other, more incoherent, thought swirled in his mind. He said none of them.





	Dreamless

**Author's Note:**

> All those dark tags you see above mostly come from the fact dark magic is present in this fic! Like in FE canon (though mostly seen through supports, which are also very briefly referenced in this fic), dark magic sometimes requires dark things to happen in order to work. Those things may include animal harm/death (only mentioned) and sometimes self-harm (not suicidal, simply to draw and use blood). Be careful when reading if you're not a fan of those things! I mostly try to steer clear of them, but some things are unavoidable. The blood part is much more prevalent than any animal stuff (again, only referenced) and I don't think it's very graphic (by my own standards), but still! Be safe!
> 
> I hope you guys can tell what tropes I love by now, because truly, I will never change.
> 
> Also this fic was intended to be one (1) scene only and like 2K maximum. Now look where we are. I have exams to study for. RIP.

Odin stumbled through the library door, catching himself on the frame at the last moment. He forcefully blinked the sleep out of his eyes.

Leo’s head slowly rose at the sound of Odin’s entrance. He nodded in greeting without much energy.

“No change?” Leo asked, voice flat.

Odin shook his head. His frown deepened as the buzzing in his head grew briefly louder and his world threatened to tilt. Somehow he managed to stay upright.

This wasn’t the absolute longest he’d ever gone without sleep, but he was getting there.

Leo hunched back over the books set up before him. Farther down the table, several other mages Odin had forgotten the names of were quietly shuffling through their own tomes as they struggled to find the right spell. Occasionally they muttered an inaudible phrase or two to each other.

Odin had been among their ranks until only a few minutes ago when he’d gotten up to do his rounds. It seemed no progress had been made in the time he was gone.

“We’re running out of time,” Leo said with finality, pushing his hair out of his face and then leaving his hand there. He had lost his usual hairband at some point. “We’ll all pass out before we fix anything at this rate.”

It was possible that he was thinking out loud and didn’t realize it—the lack of sleep had made them all a little strange—but Odin came up behind him anyway.

“Milord,” he began, trying and failing to muster up the right amount of energy to match his words. “It’s possible we may search these tomes all night and find naught.”

Only a handful of mages were left at the table, the others presumably long since fallen under the hex’s dark magic, but Leo kept his voice low anyway.

“Then what do you suggest we do, Odin? We can’t presume this magic won’t follow if we leave the city. We might bring it with us, and then what? We’d lose too much time and too may resources. Not to mention we’d be leaving Windmire defenseless.”

Less than half the castle was still awake at this point. The handful of sleep deprived soldiers they had at their disposal wasn’t much of a defense force, but it was something. However, it was only a matter of time before even they fell under the thrall that had swept the city.

Odin laid his hand on the back of Leo’s chair, circling around one side so he could look down at his lord and significant other. “That much is true. But this magic may not be written anywhere in this library. And even if it is, we might not—have the exact components necessary to counter it on hand.”

It was a struggle to finish his sentence. He paused in strange places, nearly forgetting the words even as they left his mouth. The buzzing in his head grew louder again.

Sleep was clearly crooning its siren song in Leo’s mind as well. He irritably grabbed fistfuls of his hair.

“So?” Leo said, voice uncharacteristically short. “We can’t just try counter-spells willy-nilly. We need…   _something_ to base our spells off of or else we run the risk of exhausting ourselves for no reason. And right now we have…”

It was difficult for Leo to find the right words as well, but Odin knew what he meant.

They had nothing.

Spells and hexes worked differently, but dark magic always required else in exchange. Firing off a spell usually meant giving up a little bit of energy or leaving yourself a bit more vulnerable than preferred while you worked. They didn’t require much. Spells were easy like that.

A book, a few words, a little less pep than you had before—then bam. Spell fired. Enemy down. Or so it usually went.

Hexes worked differently. Hexes required preparation time and usually something a little extra. Some dead animal's bones broken in exchange for your sworn enemy’s death a dozen miles away. A special crystal shattered or a little blood lost in service of summoning some malicious entity to do your bidding. Hexes required time and caution. They as powerful as they were tricky. Because if the right components weren’t used—if the right objects weren’t offered up in equivalent exchange for the magic you required—the hex would go bouncing back at the castor instead.

Odin had no idea what kind of mage could pulled off the mother of all hexes cast over the city. More than likely it wasn't any one mage doing the casting. He had no idea how any one person could cast a magical net this wide otherwise. He _still_ didn’t know what kind of price said mages had paid to get it to work. The possibilities seemed as unpleasant as they were unlikely. He didn’t want to dwell on it.

But he had to dwell on it, because otherwise they’d never reverse the magic.

This wasn’t Tharja making Noire a charm so her daughter could access the more aggressive side of herself. This wasn’t Henry killing birds so Odin’s mother could sleep at night. This wasn’t placing wards around camp so no strangers could wander in, nor was it like dispelling a more common curse on sight. This hex was _big_ , and so far nobody Odin knew had ever seen anything like it. They didn’t know how it worked, how it kept people under, what components were being used, what type of magic was truly at play—nothing.

And until they did—until they had an _inkling_ to go off of—trying to disrupt the hex would be like casting stones into a lake in an attempt to strike a lone fish. It was a fruitless endeavor. The fish slipped past the clunky stones every time. Odin and Leo needed more information if they ever wanted to ward off the hex’s effects.

And it would be nearly impossible to figure out the answers in their state, as they slowly grew more disoriented and exhausted with each passing hour.

Their chances of success were staring right down the barrel of abysmal. But Odin wasn't so sure they were doomed just yet. 

It was hard to come up with the right words, however, so he stood there for a moment, thinking.

* * *

It had started with Felicia.

Actually, it probably hadn’t. But Felicia had been the first case that Odin had caught wind of, and so that was who came to mind when he thought about the beginning of this mess, over a day before.

Odin had woken up and done his business as usual. He’d kissed Leo good-morning and attended his daily tasks, idly wondering every now and again if Niles would return from his own mission soon. He’d caught lunch with Laslow, trained a little in the yard, and brainstormed some new weapon ideas. All normal events.

And then sometime in the afternoon, he’d heard Flora calling for some healers for her sister. Apparently she’d found Felicia sitting in one of the larger windows on the upper floor of the castle, eyes closed and breathing evenly. An unfinished basket of laundry had tumbled out of her lap and spilled onto the floor at some point. Felicia, seemingly oblivious to the mess, slept on.

Flora had rolled her eyes in exasperation and gone to shake Felicia’s shoulder, murmuring quietly about how Felicia mustn’t sleep on the job, that there was work to be done. Or so Odin liked to imagine for dramatic effect.

But Felicia hadn’t opened her eyes. Her head lolled when Flora touched her, and she slumped against the window. No amount of shaking or cold water had woken her up.

So Felicia, apparently in a coma, had been taken to the infirmary. Which was awful, to be sure. Odin’s heart had gone out to Flora when he caught sight of her, Flora’s usually impassive mask slipping in favor of a more distressed expression. It was a sorry sight. But everyone had assumed it to be _only_ Felicia at first.

Until Laslow had heard about it all. Ever sensitive, his heart had sung with sympathy for Felicia’s plight, but another little worry nibbled at the back of his mind as well.

That afternoon, he’d found Xander asleep in a chair at his desk. Which, while not exactly common, was not the first time Laslow had stumbled upon his lord asleep after working long hours with little rest. So Laslow had quietly laid a blanket over his lap, made sure Xander would not wake up with any strange neck pains, and left his lord to catch up on some sleep.

Part of Laslow had wanted to dismiss the events as coincidence. Or so he’d told Odin not an hour later, once more in the infirmary. Because he’d gone to check on Xander after hearing about Felicia, and just as he’d feared, Xander had also failed to wake up when shaken.

Guilt had eaten away at Laslow after that, despite various reassurances that there was nothing that could have been done, that Laslow could not have woken Xander earlier even if he’d tried, and so on. It had almost been a good thing when Laslow and Peri had fallen asleep against each other’s shoulders while watching over Xander some hours ago. Almost.

Word from the city had finally reached the castle by then. Rumors at first, then more substantial stories. Babies and toddlers who had been laid down for naps that afternoon hadn’t risen like they were supposed to. Nor had the grandparents who often took their own naps with them. Laborers on short breaks, people who worked the night shift, schoolyard children cutting class, people recovering from sickness or other ailments who had rested their eyes ever so briefly that afternoon—all of them had fallen asleep and refused to wake up.

People were falling asleep and then _staying_ asleep. Like some kind of curse.

And by the time people had begun drawing a connection between these facts, one-third of all of Windmire was out like a light.

At first it had been the very young, very old, or very sick people who had fallen victim to the hex. Some young, overworked adults joined their ranks, but for the most part it was people who regularly napped in the afternoon. A _manageable_ amount of people. Unfortunate but manageable.

Then the hours had slipped by, and those who had been awake since the day before started to fall. Elise ran from bedside to bedside all night before literally falling asleep on her feet. Arthur had knocked himself out tumbling down a staircase to inform the others, and now only Effie was left to keep watch over the youngest princess.

Just as Odin had hoped and feared, Niles had returned from his mission during the chaos. He valiantly tried to stay awake with the rest of the castle when he’d been told what had happened. But he’d been awake for longer than Odin and Leo both at that point, and Niles couldn’t keep up despite  a near endless stream of coffee and constantly pinching himself. He’d passed out sitting upright in a chair with his arms crossed some odd number of hours ago. Even in sleep, he was keeping watch.

When they found him, Odin had kissed Niles's forehead and laid him to bed. Leo had squeezed Niles’s hand and carefully placed his eyepatch on the nightstand for when Niles woke up again. Then they left him to rest.

Corrin was unconscious too, as was more than half the castle at this point. Most of the city below—now filled with drowsy, frazzled citizens unsure about what to do or where to go in the wake of chaos—had fallen asleep too.

Odin didn’t blame them. It was getting harder and harder to stay on his feet despite the extreme incentive to do otherwise.

He had to admit, if someone wanted to invade the capital city of Nohr, sauntering in while everyone the rest of the city slept on was a good way to do it.

If this kept up, Odin thought with dread, no one was ever going to be waking up again.

* * *

 

“Odin?” Leo prompted. “Can you hear me?”

Odin’s head jerked up. He blinked rapidly, and Leo once again swam into focus. The prince looked up at him, concerned.

How close had Odin come to passing out just now? Fear struck his heart like an arrow.

Leo must have seen how startled Odin felt because his face softened a bit, though the worry lines around his mouth stayed.

“How’s Niles?” he asked gently.

That question was like taking a second arrow to the chest. Odin’s eyes briefly slid to the floor. It took most of his energy not to flop on the ground and fall asleep right there, so he dropped the dramatics for the moment to save what was left.

“No changes,” Odin said. “But he seems to be doing well. He looks rather peaceful, actually.”

Leo shook his head. If he had the energy, Odin thought Leo might have smiled. “Would that we could join him.”

“Yeah.”

A moment passed between them. It would have been almost peaceful if not for the incoming doom hanging over their heads. Odin took a breath to steady himself, willing his thoughts to stop slipping from his mind like sand through his fingers.

“So,” Odin said. “This. Isn’t really working.”

Leo’s eyes snapped to the other end of the table where the few mages that remained awake were doing their research.

Odin squinted. He thought one of them had fallen asleep.

Before Leo could protest again, he said, “I think I have something I want to try, but I don’t—I’m not really sure how well it’s going to work.”

He didn’t say _It’s really risky._

He didn’t say _If you help me it’ll be easier, but I’m so scared it’ll go wrong that I don’t want to ask you. I don’t want you to get hurt. I don’t want you to see_ me _hurt. I want Niles to wake up and say it’s all going to be alright, but he’s not going to wake up and soon we won’t either._

Other, more incoherent, thought swirled in his mind. He said none of them.

Leo sighed, rubbing his eyes.

“If it helps, you have my blessing to do anything,” he said, “so long as it’s not… stupid.”

He finished his sentence lamely, as if some better word had failed to come to mind. Leo frowned absently at the table.

“No promises,” Odin joked. Only he wasn’t really joking. “I’ll be back in a little while then. Selena just returned, so I’m taking her too. So we don’t fall asleep.”

Leo waved him off. “Do you need any help?”

 _Yes_ , Odin wanted to say.

 _Maybe,_ he nearly said.

The real answer was as much a dodge as it was a lie. Leo didn’t look like he had the energy to stand, and Odin wasn’t going to ask him to. They couldn’t afford to waste their energy. If Odin’s plan didn’t work, then it would be left up to Leo and the others to solve this mess first.

“I think I’m fine,” Odin lied. “Keep up the good work, okay?”

Leo hummed an incoherent response. Odin kissed the top of Leo’s head and left the library.

* * *

 

Selena found him after—

Minutes, maybe? Possibly longer. Odin startled back to reality again when Selena laid a hand on his shoulder in greeting.

She didn’t react when Odin jumped. She just looked at him flatly, the growing shadows under her eyes communicating without words how unimpressed she felt. More than likely, Selena was just as out of it as Odin.

Felicia had fallen asleep and refused to awaken in the afternoon, but Odin and the others had been up and about since that morning. More than a day had passed since then. How long had it been, exactly?

Odin spared a quick glance out the window. It was dark outside again, but he couldn’t remember if that meant it was early morning or if the sun had just set. They had probably been awake for about two days at this point. Was it edging closer to three? No, that didn’t sound right. But he couldn't be sure.

Exhaustion weighed at his limbs like anchors.

He didn’t bother sparing the brain power to do the math. It felt like it had been forever since the last time Odin had gotten any sleep. His body craved it.

“Hey,” Selena said. She held up a small bag with limp fingers. “You wanted this, right?”

It took Odin a moment to remember what he had asked for. “Yeah. You ready?”

“I’m good enough,” she said.

Parts of her hair had fallen out of her pigtails. Selena hadn’t bothered to fix them. Odin was sure he looked just as disheveled, but neither of them cared.

He took the bag from her. It was light. Then he shuffled off in the general direction of a mostly unused storage room. Selena followed.

“How’s Camilla?” Odin asked, both because he wanted to know and because he needed to concentrate on something or else he'd fall asleep.

Selena shrugged. It seemed as though all the energy had been forcefully drained out of her after some thirty odd hours awake.

When she didn’t answer, Odin repeated, “Selena?”

Selena made a little grunt of acknowledgement. “Fine. Beruka’s—Mm. Beruka’s not talking. But she’s awake too.”

Odin turned this new information over like an old stone. “No luck?”

Camilla was down in the city with a handful of remaining soldiers, searching old houses and other such buildings for evidence of magic. It was slow, necessary work. No matter how many buildings Camilla and Beruka searched, however, Odin had a feeling they wouldn't come up with much. Not soon enough anyway. So he wasn't surprised when he saw Selena shake her head out of the corner of his eye.

Odin hummed as they came to the storage room door. They opened it and went inside. There wasn’t much speaking after that.

Selena leaned against the walls and crossed her arms, propping herself up against the stone. Several candles were already lit in a circle in the center of the mostly empty room. Odin had prepared them earlier, to give him something to do after visiting Niles. He ignored the miscellaneous crates shoved in the corners of the room and fell to his knees in the center of the circle of candles, taking his bag with him.

Hexes and spells were different. Spells came fast and easy. They required something in exchange for the magic to work. Hexes did too, but those took more time. And the price they demanded was steeper.

Odin was willing to pay a whole lot to keep his friends and family safe.

He dumped the little bag's contents out on the floor. A small knife and various herbs came spilling out onto the stone.

Odin took a handful of the herbs and sprinkled them over the candles. The flames grew briefly brighter before dimming again, though a new minty scent lingered in the air. It wasn't much, but Odin hoped the herbs would help him concentrate. Or at least offer a little protection, mild as it was. He tossed the now empty bag aside.

Then all that was left was the knife.

Hexes demanded a larger price than spells. And the stronger the hex, the steeper the price. To do what Odin was doing, to try and break an other’s hex with zero inkling of what that hex might even _be_? How it might have been done on such a grand scale?

Well.

Magically, it was still the equivalent of throwing stones at a lake in order to catch a fish. Instead of one stone, however, Odin was going to throw a hundred stones in every direction he could think of in hopes of hitting something. If he was lucky, his stones—his raw burst of magical energy—would disrupt the hex hanging over the city. Or at least in the general vicinity. Then everyone would wake up again.

It was a poor analogy and much too simplified for what he was really about to do. Tossing stones into the metaphorical water and hoping to hit fish—that wasn’t really the way magic worked. There was nothing thoughtless about the magic Odin was doing now. Nothing like tossing a rock.

He had some help from the dragon blood that the human Anankos had shared with them once upon a time, but still, his task would be difficult. Especially since he didn’t have any extra help from other mages. Odin wasn't exactly willing to risk other's safety by asking for help with such a risky plan, however. It was a bit of a cycle.

Sending a burst of magic across the veil at every point the hex could be working at—such a feat took planning and skill. Possibly more than Odin had available right then. His hands weren’t exactly steady at the moment. Sleep deprivation would do that to a person.

But it was this or nothing, and Odin had made his choice.

Under Selena’s careful eye, he got to work.

Odin took the knife and cut the back of his calf through his pants. He had more spare clothes than energy, and considering how thin his tights were, it wasn’t a very difficult feat.

The cloth split easily under the knife. Odin’s skin split too, and it stung. He hissed through his teeth and pulled the knife away.

It wasn’t a deep cut. But blood had already begun to run down his leg, and that was what mattered.

Odin didn’t have the right components to do this safely, and that—on top of the lightheadedness and lack of clear, coherent thought from lack of sleep—was part of the reason why he hadn’t asked Leo to help.

Diviners used mirrors or cards, war spells required books—the list went on. Theoretically, those items weren’t strictly necessary to perform the right magic. But they helped with channeling and focus. Depending on teh magic, they  _definitely_ helped with keeping the spell backlash off the caster. Odin, however, didn’t have any of those hex components right now, and he didn’t have time to gather them. He'd only asked Selena to grab what herbs he knew they had on hand.

But blood would work, he thought. When it came to dark magic, practically everything could be substituted with blood. Even if it being _his_ blood wasn’t necessarily the safest choice.

“Hey,” Selena cut in as Odin set the knife aside. “Is this really okay?”

She meant _Are_ you _really okay?_

Odin shrugged and ran his pointer finger along his cut, wincing. He’d have to cut himself again if he didn’t write fast enough. He’d seen people cut the palm of their hands for symbolic reasons before, and while Odin thought that looked pretty cool aesthetically speaking, he didn’t really want to accidentally cut a tendon in his hand right now.

“I can do this,” he said. Because if he said it enough, maybe he could will it to be true.

He felt Selena’s eyes on him as he dragged his now bloody finger against the floor, marking shaky sigils into the stone. She didn’t stop him. They both knew what desperate times called for.

Odin drew the sigils on autopilot. Time trickled by without his realizing, the candle flames growing dimmer as the candle wax waned, and before Odin knew it, more than half of the circle had been filled with bloody sigils.

At some point he looked down, forcing his vision to focus, and realized he’d drawn several sigils in a row incorrectly. Odin sighed and scrubbed them away with his dirty hand.

Then he blinked again and the whole circle was completed. He stared at the rusty symbols in surprise. Another ache in his calf had joined the first, and somehow Odin wasn’t too shocked when he realized he’d given himself a second cut at some point too.

Obviously, he’d lost time. He was so tired he’s somehow completed the circle without thinking. Hopefully the sigils were correct, because the way Odin stared at them now, all he really registered was a blurry red mess on the stone. There was no way he could draw them all again. How many minutes had he already wasted by staring into space? In the time it had taken Odin to get this far, the candles had shrunk to a third of their original height.

Odin looked up, half expecting to find Selena asleep too. But she wasn’t.

Selena had slid to the floor at some point, legs stretched out in front of her. But she was still awake and staring at Odin will dull, half-lidded eyes.

“You finished?” she croaked.

Odin felt a little woozy. From blood loss or lack of sleep, he wasn’t sure. Maybe from lack of food too? He couldn’t remember the last time he’d eaten.

He’d been sitting on his knees for a while, and when he straightened up to work out the soreness in his muscles, he felt himself grow briefly lightheaded. The buzzing in his head came back with a vengeance. Odin’s tights stuck to his leg uncomfortably, and dried blood flaked onto the floor when he moved.

“Yeah,” he said, looking at the finished sigils. His leg throbbed. “I think so.”

Selena bobbed her head. “Great. So… What now?”

A good question. It took Odin a little longer than he would have liked to process it.

Was Leo still awake? Had he fallen asleep waiting for Odin to return? Would this even work? Would Niles wake up in their bed, wondering where Odin and Leo were? If Odin didn’t draw the sigils right, if his magic wasn’t enough even with dragon’s blood giving him that much needed boost—what then?

Nothing would be gained just from waiting. Nothing would change if he didn’t act.

Odin licked his lower lip. “Can you… make sure I don’t die or anything?”

Selena straightened. With great effort, she pulled her legs back to her chest, looking ready to rise at any moment.

“What?” she said, more alert now than before. “Hang on. What are you doing?”

Odin looked down at the circle. “Something I promised not to do, I think.”

Then, because it felt suitably dramatic, he pressed his dirt and blood-stained palms to the edges of the circle and started to mutter the counter hex.

The words only took a few seconds to perform. Most magical chants were about directing the magic, guiding it into the right shape. But Odin wasn’t shaping this magic so much as flinging it into the ether haphazardly, and so after what felt like the world’s quickest, most thoughtless chant, he let loose.

A _lot_ of magic left him all at once. It felt a lot like a deity sucking him magically dry from head to toe. Odin wobbled and fought to keep from collapsing face first into the circle as the magic shot out of him.

Selena sucked in a sharp breath when the wave of magic passed over her. He hoped that meant something good.

A split-second later, the kickback hit him.

The kickback from the counter hex—because of course, of _course_ he’d done something wrong, he was too tired to think clearly, thank the gods he hadn’t dragged Leo in here with him—felt like a fist literally punching its way through his chest. A strangled gasp left Odin’s lungs from the pain and shock of it. His lips parted, but no sound left him. His lungs froze in his chest.

The world went dark even before Odin’s eyes fell shut.

* * *

He woke up slowly, a familiar softness under his back, and that was almost as surprising as the fact he woke up at all.

He took a long moment to process this. Odin didn’t bother opening his eyes just yet.

Part of the reason he’d felt even semi-confident that his plan would work solo was because of the blood Anankos had given him, Selena, and Laslow once upon a time. The dragon’s blood had changed them, inside and out. It wasn’t a huge change, but it was enough. Enough that Odin knew he could take more hits than he used to, magical or otherwise. So he’d thought his chances of living through a magical slipup of his own making were better than the average person’s.

Still, that didn’t mean his chances had been _good._ So the fact Odin registered the feel of the bed under him as the one that he, Niles, and Leo shared filled him with relief. He wasn’t dead yet.

Part of Odin wanted to lay there forever. He might have passed out again if not for the bone-deep ache that ran throughout his body, keeping him from delving back into the world of dreams. It felt as though someone had rolled large tree trunks over his every limb for fun. The thought of raising even a single arm made him want to groan preemptively. 

Despite the pain, he flexed his fingers and toes to make sure they were all still in one piece, mentally grimacing all the while. Fortunately, nothing seemed to be missing. One never knew when it came to dark magic, but this time he seemed to have lucked out. His body still hurt something _awful_ though.

Eventually, he worked up enough energy to open his eyes and squint up at the ceiling.

It was daytime.

Actually—Odin glanced at the western window and noted the strong rays of sunlight shining through—it was probably something more like late afternoon. A familiar dip in the mattress told Odin that he wasn’t alone.

He lolled his head to the side.

Next to Odin, Niles looked back.

“You sure took your time,” Niles said, voice amused in the same way his face wasn’t. He was laying on his side under the covers, gaze unwavering upon Odins’ face.

Odin took quick stock of him. The last time he’d seen Niles, the man had been lulled to sleep by magic and his own exhaustion. Leo and Odin had moved him to their bed when they’d found him—the same bed Niles and Odin were laying in now.

But Niles seemed to have woken up at some point. He’d changed clothes, and though his hair was a bit ruffled, it didn’t have the slept-in look Odin would have expected. Clearly Niles had woken up and gotten out of bed before Odin had.

Which meant Odin’s counter hex had worked, and that was a relief all itself. Or, at the very least, somebody else had figured out a solution while Odin had been knocked out. Either way, Niles was awake now, and Odin couldn’t have been more grateful.

“Niles!” Odin said gleefully. He tried and failed to sit upright. Finally, he resigned himself to slumping back down against the pillow. With visible relief, he said, “You’ve awoken from your nefarious slumber!”

“So I have,” Niles acknowledged. Then he pinched the skin of Odin’s arm quite hard.

Odin jerked away, wincing. “Ow! What was that for?”

“For trying to be a damn hero,” Niles said bluntly.

Truthfully, Odin had expected a reaction like this. But he had at least hoped for a moment to adjust to the world of the waking again before accusations were flung—no matter how accurate they might have been.

“So it worked then?” he asked, deciding to dodge the more pointed question for now. “Everyone has been freed from their eternal rest?”

Niles snorted, pulling his arms closer to himself, He didn’t raise his head from the pillow it rested upon, nor did he look anywhere but Odin’s face.

“Don’t sound so proud of yourself. You didn’t raise the dead.”

Odin pulled a signature Laslow face and pouted.

Niles rolled his eyes. “But more or less, yes. Our sleep schedules are probably shot to hell for the next few days, but nobody’s throat is being slit in their beds, at least.”

An awful image. Odin shivered as Niles’s gaze sharpened. Niles continued to explain without further prompting.

“After that stunt you pulled—which we are going to have words about, by the way—everyone who’d been sleeping suddenly woke up, myself included. Selena managed to tell Leo and some others what happened. She got you to the infirmary before she collapsed as well. Leo brought me up to speed when I found you both there. Those of us who had been sleeping then relieved the people who had gone without. King Xander took over the manhunt for the mages responsible. I assisted while you and Leo rested. You can probably figure out the rest from there.”

There seemed to be more to it then that, but Niles’s words were quick and matter of fact. Then he sighed.

“I have to admit,” Niles said, “if you hadn’t done whatever it was you did, I’m not sure we would be here now. While you were sleeping, the relief soldiers rooted out the rebellious mages on the outskirts of the city. They were a ragtag group who likely only managed to pull off such a feat through dumb luck and a brief lapse of incompetence, but even so, I’m not sure if a more exhausted bunch could have taken them. We only managed to succeed because you bought us time.”

“Great!” Odin said with forced cheer. His sluggish brain was slow to process Niles’s words, but he thought he’d understood the gist of it anyway. “So it seems that once again, Odin Dark—”

“Pulled a risky stunt he shouldn’t have,” Niles finished.

Odin gawked. “But you said it worked!”

“It did,” Niles conceded. “But that doesn’t mean you should have done it.”

“That definitely doesn’t sound right.” Odin frowned and shuffled onto his side so he could face Niles, ignoring the painful protests from his body as he moved. Then they were face to face. “It worked, didn’t it? Everybody’s safe now.”

“You’re forgetting yourself in that equation.”

“But I’m safe _now_ , aren’t I?”

Niles made a sound of irritation, eyebrows furrowing. “Do you even hear yourself? You almost weren’t.”

“But that’s not the point,” Odin said, feeling himself begin to grow exasperated as well. “I get that you think I was just trying to be a hero, but I wasn’t. You were under the influence of malicious magic! You don’t know how it felt looking down at you, knowing that unless I did something, I’d never get to hear your voice or open your eyes again.”

It was a low blow, but he didn’t stop. “ _You_ weren’t there when things were starting to get hopeless and we were all dead on our feet. I couldn’t wait for Leo to fall asleep too. I was willing to risk it all to guarantee that you’d wake up again.”

Granted, Odin hadn’t actually had any guarantee at all, but he wasn’t going to admit that _now_. He’d done what he’d thought was right, and it worked out in the end.

“And _you_ weren’t there after,” Niles snapped. His arm curled around Odin’s waist, tugging him closer under the sheets. Odin gasped from pain and surprise. “Can you imagine how _I_ felt? Waking up, confused and alone, in the middle of the night? And the moment I manage to find Leo dead on his feet, he tells me you are almost _literally_ dead from performing some kind of blood ritual in a closet? Do _you_ know what that’s like?”

He punctuated the last sentenced with a rather deep scowl, as if reliving the memory. Odin tried to shrink back with shame, but Nile’s arm around his waist kept him locked in place.

Of course, he’d known Niles and Leo were going to be upset with him even before he’d acted. It had seemed a worthy tradeoff at the time. But now he was starting to be hit full force with the knowledge of what he’d done to them.

“Oh,” Niles said without stopping, “and lucky me, we didn’t know if the magic you performed was permanent or not. So the rest of us had to frantically get to work while you slept on. And on top of all _that_ , even after Leo woke up, you didn’t. At first, we didn’t know when or if you ever would. Do _you_ know what that’s like, Odin? I thought not.”

It was quite the argument. Guilt gnawed at Odin’s chest at the mental image of Niles rushing to the infirmary, heart racing, still gathering his bearings as he frantically searched for Leo and Odin both; Odin imagined the anxiety that must have swirled in Niles’s head when he finally found them, either unconscious or about to be. Niles might not have been awake for most of the drama, but he’d still been through quite the ordeal.

Still, Odin couldn’t bring himself to concede.

“You were brought here yesterday,” Niles added when Odin didn’t say anything immediately. His voice was even, subdued. “It’s been two days.”

“I’m not sorry for saving you,” Odin said, quietly but firmly.

He looked down but heard Niles’s huff anyway. Calloused fingers slid under his chin and tilted Odin’s head back up so their eyes could meet.

“I’m not asking you to be _sorry_ ,” Niles said. His voice still held some proper annoyance, but it wasn’t forceful. “If you hadn’t done what you did, we’d likely all be dead by now. So I’m not asking you to apologize for saving all our skins.”

His thumb brushed Odin’s chin. “But I _am_ saying that when you’re specifically asked _not_ to do something stupid, you try your best to follow that rule. I get that I was useless during all this, but there were other precautions you could have taken here before letting yourself bleed out in a closet of all places.”

Niles’s frown had deepened considerably by the time was finished. His expression was one more of worry than anger now. Odin knew it well.

He curled his fingers into Niles’s shirt. How long had Niles laid here, he suddenly wondered. How long had Niles waited for Odin to wake up the same way Odin had waited on him?

“Firstly, you are not and never will be useless,” Odin defended. “You are Niles, right hand to a prince of Nohr, keeper of shadows, reaper of all those who fall into the path of your accursed eye—"

Niles snorted again.

“—and you were already exhausted from other important work,” Odin finished. His voice went soft. “You hadn’t slept. There was no way you could have stayed up with us. It couldn’t have been helped. Even unconquerable antiheroes like myself can’t keep up sometimes, through no fault of our own.”

“Thanks,” Niles said flatly.

“Secondly,” Odin barreled onward, “there was no way I could have ever bled out from some measly cuts like that. I needed a bandage at best. Thirdly, I—”

Here Odin faltered. Niles waited patiently for Odin to continue.

“Thirdly,” he said again, “I never would never intentionally put you or Leo in harm’s way. In fact, it’s specifically our jobs to keep Leo _out_ of danger, if I do recall. So there was no way I would have asked him to help me with something I knew might get him hurt. My heart could not have taken the strain if I allowed something like that to happen—to either of you.”

The twist of Niles’s mouth informed Odin that Niles had quite a few things to say about that, so Odin continued quickly:

“I _know_ what I did was risky, and I know you both wouldn’t have wanted me to do it. To tell you the truth, I didn’t even know for a fact that it would work. If I’d had more resources or awareness or time to prepare, it might have gone better. But there wasn’t time for any of that. The longer the hex went on, the more difficult it would be to dispel. If my magic saved you, then I don’t regret it. Even if it hurt me in the process.”

Speaking took much more out of him than it should have. Odin’s breathing was almost labored by the time he finished. He closed his eyes, focusing on the sensation of Niles’s arm around his hip.

Odin said, “I know you and Leo would have done the same, given no other option.”

Niles was silent for a moment, digesting his words. Odin waited for his reply, trying not to squirm too obviously under his hands. He opened his eyes again.

Eventually, Niles said, “At the very least, you could have told us what you planned to do so we wouldn’t have been caught off guard by it.” He pressed his lips together before correcting himself. “You could have told Leo, even if he wasn’t directly involved in the process of casting… whatever it was you did.”

“Maybe,” Odin conceded. “But I knew he’d try to stop me, and then we’d all die. So I didn’t.”

They looked at each other for a beat.

Niles shook his head against the pillow. A lock of silver hair fell into his face, and Odin would have instinctively brushed it away if his limbs hadn’t been so heavy.

“You’re damn lucky that worked,” Niles sighed heavily. The very air seemed to shift and grow lighter with his words.

“Yeah,” Odin agreed. “I am.”

He didn’t just mean the fact he had lived either. Odin didn’t know what he would have done if he’d woken up and Niles hadn’t—if he’d found Leo had fallen into the same unending sleep as Niles and Odin’s counter hex had all been for naught. The thought alone was a little maddening, and another rush of guilt and sympathy for the pain he must have caused them washed over him.

Odin understood why Niles was upset. He really did. But if he had the chance to go back and make another choice, he wouldn’t have, and he couldn’t pretend otherwise. That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to feel bad about it though.

Niles’s eyes fell shut, fingers flexing against Odin’s lower back. “Damn. I really did fall in love with one of the most reckless heroes in Nohr.”

Odin felt his face split into a somewhat painful grin. “I have to keep things exciting somehow, don’t I?”

“A little less excitement would be nice now and then.”

“I’ll take that into consideration.”

Nile’s lips met his as the last word left Odin’s mouth. Maybe he could sense how sensitive Odin was at the moment or perhaps he was just in a softer mood—both were equally possible. Either way, Niles’s lips glided gently over Odin’s own. Odin, too pained and tired to do otherwise, kissed back just as tenderly.

He wriggled closer as they kissed, pressing their fronts together. Niles’s knees knocked against his own. When they pulled apart for air, Odin felt Niles sigh against his mouth before diving back in.

Niles’s tongue was as sharp as his arrows, and he could have easily leaned over and engulfed Odin with the sheer difference of height between them. But kissing Niles was like smoothing out a glass's jagged edge, like washing the worry away with a much gentler touch. Niles tasted like relief and sadness and, most of all, himself.

Eventually, they pulled apart. It took Odin a few beats too many to remember to open his eyes again.

When he did, he found Niles still looking at him. His face was more open this time, his gaze more unguarded.

Niles took in a slow breath and pressed his forehead to Odin’s.

“I’m really serious,” he said lowly. “Please don’t make us go through that again. Either of us.”

Odin felt another pang of regret. His fingers tightened in Niles’s shirt. “I can’t promise I’ll never try to save either of you again if the time comes. But I—I promise to try to be more open about it, when I can. I don’t ever want to be the one to cause you pain.”

“A bit too late for that, don’t you think?” Niles looked considering. His voice slowed. “Loving someone is often painful, isn’t it? When you invite them into your life, you invite the risk of pain and loss as well. That’s just asking for trouble.”

“But not only trouble,” Odin said, a little nervously.

Niles’s slow, lopsided smile soothed his brief nerves. “No. Not _only_ trouble.”

It became apparent that neither of them could think of any more words to say after that, their brief argument having drained the last of their energy. The only thing they had left now was the comfort they found in one another and—for Odin—a lingering wave of drowsiness.

Odin dozed in Niles’s arms for some incalculable amount of time before the door opened and he perked up.

It still hurt to move, but he managed to work up the strength to roll onto his back once more. Waves of pain rolled through his body immediately after, but it was worth it to make room for Leo as the last of their trio made his way across the room. Even Niles scooted back somewhat, though his fingers still remained intertwined with Odin’s under the covers.

“Oh, sun in my morning sky, keeper of secrets,” Odin greeted warmly, encouraged by his and Niles’s reconciliation. “How have you fared these long hours since we have been parted?”

Leo didn’t reply. Seemingly unfazed by the fact Odin was now awake, he barely spared time to kick off his shoes before crawling into bed with them. He flopped face-first onto the mattress, pressing his nose to Odin’s neck and breathing in. 

Odin let out a small “oof” of surprise. He very much wanted to reach up and bury his fingers in Leo’s hair, to pull him closer, but rolling over had sapped most of his energy. He had to make due with tilting his head to bury his nose in Leo’s hair instead, breathing in Leo’s familiar scent the same way Leo was breathing him in.

Lips pressed against Odins neck, then his cheek. Leo trailed quick kisses up his skin until he placed a final kiss under Odin’s eye. Then he pulled back, balancing on his forearms and taking in Odin’s face from above. Leo pushed some of Odin’s hair away from his forehead without speaking.

Odin didn’t comment. This time when Leo took in a deep breath, it seemed to steady him.

“Greetings, my heart of hearts,” Odin tried again, feeling rather cowed by Leo’s sudden affection.

“Is it your memory?” Leo asked.

That threw Odin for a loop. “Excuse me?”

“Do you have memory problems?” Leo repeated, face serious. “Or have I just not told you often enough how important you are? I was pretty sure you got the gist of our feelings right around the time Niles and I confessed that we loved you, as well as every subsequent time after that, but perhaps I was wrong.”

Odin’s cheeks grew hot with embarrassment. “Leo, I—"

“I already had this conversation,” Niles muttered. “I’m tapped.”

His eyes were closed, but he was still clearly listening. Leo acknowledged him with the flick of his gaze and then focused back on Odin.

“I do distinctly recall confessing that any future without either you or Niles would be quite empty, no matter the circumstances.” Leo’s gaze was sharp despite the vague dark spots under his eyes. “Did you forget that as well? Perhaps Elise should check your hearing while we’re at it.”

“Alright, I get it,” Odin finally managed to cut in. Leo would go forever if Odin let him. “I’m not sorry for, you know, saving the kingdom or anything. But I am sorry for making you worry. You know I’d never intentionally leave you or Niles behind.”

Leo shook his head. “It’s not your intentions I’m worried about. It’s what happens despite them.”

Odin smiled sheepishly, ignoring the dull ache in his cheekbones. Dark magic was the most painful type to backfire, he thought. He could only be grateful the magic had worked despite his apparent miscalculations.

“I know,” he said. “But it worked out in the end, didn’t it?”

Leo looked very close to saying it _hadn’t_ worked out. Odin watched him purse his lips and roll his jaw like he was working over the words. But then Leo sighed, the fight bleeding out of him. He collapsed onto Odin once more, pressing his nose against Odin’s cheek.

“We’re not at war anymore,” Leo muttered into Odin’s skin. “So stop trying to get yourself killed, alright?”

Under the covers, Niles squeezed his hand. Odin squeezed back.

“I’ll do my best,” Odin promised both of them.

“This time I expect you to keep that promise,” Leo said.

Odin thought about pressing the issue. He thought about saying that he hadn’t meant hurt himself, that his counter hex had seemed rather ingenious for someone running on exactly zero hours of sleep, magical kickback or no. That he’d only done it for Niles and Leo, and he’d do it again. But that wasn’t a fight he would win, nor one he sure he wanted to. Odin didn’t want to fight at all. He would stand his ground no matter what, but Niles and Leo were right in their own ways too.

The twin weights of Leo on his chest and Niles by his side were too lovely and the bed too welcoming for Odin to keep up the argument anymore. He didn’t want to tell Leo that he had been wrong to worry, because he hadn’t been. He still wasn’t. Odin would have been out of his mind with worry in their shoes too. But right now all Odin really wanted to do was to lay there with them and breathe.

So rather than speak reassurances for the dozenth time in as many minutes, Odin said, “Do you think they’ll sing tales of Odin Dark, Slayer of Slumber, come this time next year? I have already begun composing the beginning—"

“Don’t push it,” Niles said, scooting closer again now that it seemed Leo had finished with his piece.

Leo sighed. He sank impossibly deeper into the bed. It was difficult for Odin to see without tilting his head too much, but Odin thought Leo’s eyes were closed.

“I love you both,” Leo said, “so damn much. And I’d appreciate it if you didn’t give me a heart attack every time you left my sight.”

“So long as you do the same,” Niles said so Odin didn’t have to, sounding as though he were half joking. Odin knew he was entirely serious.

Leo hummed something incomprehensible. He was still laying on top of the covers, but he reached out to touch Niles anyway. He kept his hand on Niles's shoulder, thus strewing his arm across Odin's chest. Odin felt the weight of it every time he breathed.

Dull aches and pains washed over him whenever Niles squeezed his hand too tightly or Leo shifted a little too much, both of them accidentally pressing against tender skin. But the feeling of them there, so close and so unhurt, was comforting too. Odin didn’t ask them to move.

“Is it alright if I pass out now?” he muttered, eyes drooping closed. He was well and truly tapped now. “No offense, but I feel like I could sleep forever.”

A beat passed. Then Niles chuckled into Odin’s shoulder.

“Not funny,” Leo said. But Odin swore he felt Leo grin against his collarbone.

**Author's Note:**

> While writing this fic, I talked about how much [I love characters holding each other,](http://someobscurereference.tumblr.com/post/182546979310/bifca-bifca-someobscurereference-i-am-an) especially in the context of hurt/comfort/protective things. And I especially love characters stumbling upon each other in bad situations, so scared that the other is hurt and so desperate for them to be okay. I directly wrote that post because of this fic and wanted to indulge in those same tropes I've already indulged in all over again. And because I'm weak sauce, I ended up writing those tropes being implied rather than outright shown even though I very much wanted the opposite, lol. Oh well. More for me to do later then!
> 
> In canon, Henry killed birds so Lissa could sleep better in their Support together, so I wasn't making that up. Tharja did make that charm for Noire, but I don't know how it was made. The "dispelling a common curse on sight" thing happens between Henry and Olivia in their Support when someone tries to kill Olivia and Henry immediately counters it.
> 
> Feel free to leave a comment below or hit me up on my [tumblr!](http://someobscurereference.tumblr.com/) I get a lot of FE14 meta and fic related asks there, so feel free to browse through my "asks" or "fe14" tag for some extra stuff from me and your fellow readers that you may not see over here. Or send in a question of your own if you had one! Thanks for reading!


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